For an average "fare" of £12,000 for a trip to the Continent, the company said customers can book planes capable of carrying up to 16 people.

Marketing manager Alistair Laycock said the company had made the move in part because of the large number of wealthy customers booking cabs to take them to waiting jets.

"It's a nice extra to add on," he said. Addison Lee has teamed up with jet hire company PrivateFly.com to provide a choice of 7,000 jets.

PrivateFly.com chief executive Adam Twidell said a private jet could save as much as five and a half hours on a return flight to Europe.

Today the Addison Lee website had already had 1,876 searches for flights with 89 per cent from a London airport. The three most popular destinations were Paris Le Bourget, Geneva Cointrin and Milan Linate.